Shanghai: India’s Jeev Milkha Singh ended his week with his best score of 68 after rounds of 72, 73 and 69 to finish tied 23rd in the WGC-HSBC Champions on Sunday.
Germany’s Martin Kaymer staged a dramatic comeback by firing a flawless nine-under-par 63 to win the event, while Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson, who held the overnight lead, closed with a 71 to take second place while Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell carded a 67 to take third place.
Jeev was happy with the fact tha his performance has set himself up well for his upcoming events in Singapore and Malaysia.
“Anything you play well, you take it, whether it’s the first round or last round. I think the last two days were much better than the first two days but I need to work a little more on the short game,” said Singh, who was Asia’s number one in 2006 and 2008.
“I’m looking forward to the next two weeks especially in Singapore where I’ve good memories since I won there in 2008. I struggled with my putting over the last few weeks but I’m working on the right stuff and I think my putting is going to turn around,” added the Indian.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel signed off with a 65 to take a share of fourth place alongside England’s Paul Casey and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy on 273 total.
Kaymer, who started the day five shots behind Jacobson of Sweden, stunned his closest rivals with a winning total of 20-under-par 268 at the Sheshan International Golf Club.
The German’s five-shot final round winning comeback was the largest in any WGC stroke play event and also lifted him up to fourth place on the Official World Golf Ranking.
Kaymer’s spectacular birdie run started on the par-four seventh before he added his second on the eighth hole to turn in 34.
He then began to blaze the course with five birdies in six holes in his inward-nine before storming home to take his first WGC title with two closing birdies on the 17th and 18thholes.
“It started off a little slow. But then I holed a bunker shot on the seventh for birdie and pretty much since then, I didn't miss a lot of golf shots,” said Kaymer.
“I felt very comfortable with my putts today and I hit a lot of good irons. My putts were also not very difficult as most of them were quite short, apart from the one on the 17th,” added Kaymer.
With his first WGC victory in the bag, Kaymer is gunning for more success since he rose to world number one for the first time in his career in February this year.
“This win has put me in a very nice position. I’ve won a Major (PGA Championship) last year and now I’ve won a World Golf Championships. I’m going to try to put my name on all of the big events in the world,” said Kaymer
Jacobson, who led after the second and third round, was denied his fifth professional win after being let down by his putting and Kaymer’s clinical performance.
“I was happy with the chances I gave myself out there, and I wish I could have made maybe a couple of more putts along the way to really get a little bit of a cushion and put a little bit more pressure on Martin coming down the stretch,” said Jacobson.
While the Swede marked his card with four birdies, his three bogeys on the first, eight and 17th holes ended all hopes of a grandstand finish.
“It is what it is. I gave it my everything, and overall it was a great week,” said the Swede.
McDowell, who posted a flawless 67, tipped his hat to the newly crowned WGC-HSBC champion and lavished high praises for the German.
“If Martin Kaymer had not skipped the last couple of holes, we might all have had a chance. He's an unbelievable frontrunner; when he gets a sniff of a win,” said McDowell.
“He's pretty prolific and very clinical when it comes to finishing. Hats off to him as he's a classy player and was impossible to catch out there today,” added McDowell.
China’s Zhang Xin-jun emerged as the leading Asian and also the best Chinese finisher in the tournament’s history after closing with a 72 to take a share of 13th place alongside England’s Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.
Leading scores after round 4 of the HSBC Champions 2011 being played at the par 72, 7266 Yards Sheshan GC course (a- denotes amateur):
268 - Martin KAYMER (GER) 69-68-68-63.
271 - Fredrik JACOBSON (SWE) 67-66-67-71.
272 - Graeme MCDOWELL (NIR) 69-69-67-67.
273 - Charl SCHWARTZEL (RSA) 70-69-69-65, Paul CASEY (ENG) 70-66-70-67, Rory MCILROY (NIR) 70-69-65-69.
274 - Justin ROSE (ENG) 68-70-70-66, Hunter MAHAN (USA) 71-67-69-67, Louis OOSTHUIZEN (RSA) 71-63-68-72.
275 - Jhonattan VEGAS (VEN) 69-73-65-68.
Selected scores
276 - Adam SCOTT (AUS) 69-65-69-73.
278 - Ian POULTER (ENG) 70-68-69-71, ZHANG Xin-jun (CHN) 74-68-64-72, Lee WESTWOOD (ENG) 69-68-67-74.
279 - K.J. CHOI (KOR) 68-70-72-69
